L.A. Seeks to Accelerate Eviction of Squatters

Los Angeles city attorneys are looking for a way to speed up legal proceedings to clear squatters and scavengers out of vacant, quake-damaged apartment buildings in the San Fernando Valley and Hollywood and to seal the structures, officials said Friday.

Tactics for eliminating the “ghost towns” of vacant buildings that have become a haven for vandals, drug users and prostitutes were discussed Friday at a City Hall meeting of a special task force assigned to battle the problem.

Officials from the Los Angeles Police Department, the Building and Safety Department, the Housing Department and other agencies who participated in the meeting plan to outline a strategy and submit a report Tuesday to an ad-hoc earthquake recovery committee of the Los Angeles City Council, they said.

During the meeting, attorneys for the city were asked by other city officials to investigate whether they can shorten the normal 45-day process that building and safety officials need to clear and board up vacant buildings that have become a public nuisance.

But officials said it is unclear whether the city can bill property owners for the cost if the notification process is shortened.

“We are not sure if we will be able to put liens on the properties,” said Pat Bonino, a chief analyst for the city administrative office. “There are some fine legal points about what the Building and Safety Department can do.”

If the property owners cannot be forced to reimburse the city for the cost of securing the vacant buildings, Bonino said, the city may consider paying the bills by using some of the $20 million in discretionary quake relief funds from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development.

But she said officials will continue to press the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help pay for the effort, even though FEMA officials have already indicated that the problem does not qualify for disaster funds.

Another concern among city officials is that police may not have enough officers to sweep all the problem buildings before they are sealed, suggesting that the city may have to hire security guards to assist in the sweeps, said Gary Squier, general manager of the city’s Housing Department.

He said city officials are considering using the HUD funding to pay for the security guards needed for such sweeps.

The meeting was held after city officials instructed administrators Wednesday to come up with a plan to deal with the growing problem of scavengers, squatters, vandals, drug users and others taking up residence in vacant buildings.

City housing officials have identified 10 clusters of vacant quake-damaged buildings, which they dubbed “ghost towns,” in the hardest hit areas of the Valley and Hollywood.

Neighbors and owners of businesses near the vacant buildings say they fear the blight and crime of “ghost towns” will spread.